Christopher Blackman

Meditation at Colonial Williamsburg

You should try being radiant,
little brother. You have already
tried glib. Now stop treating life
like it’s a game show that you’re hosting.
I have thought about you a lot,
about learning to swim in the guppy group 

and the picture of the whale
unconscious at the bottom of the pool
in the swim safety class. A kid
drowned in that pool, you’ll remember.
Hit his head on the ladder and sank. 

In Chillicothe, they found a person
hanging from a fence by his sleeve.
Hours passed before they figured out
he wasn’t a Halloween decoration.
If there’s anything as pleasing
as its picture I can’t think of it. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about cake,
but not just any cake—there was
a picture book when we were young
that comes to mind. I believe it was
Go Dog Go. No cake has ever tasted
as good as that cake looked.

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Christopher Blackman’s poems have previously been published or are forthcoming in DIAGRAM, The Kenyon Review, Epiphany, Southeast Review, Booth and Rust + Moth, among other publications. His full-length manuscript has been a finalist in book contests by Tupelo Press, and Conduit, as well as the National Poetry Series. He is originally from Columbus, Ohio, and currently lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts.